Readers' comments

As long as the South African government does not become pro-active by implementing and controlling minimum wages, and in addition, setting minimum standards for housing and other benefits, NOTHING will change.
It was interesting to note the comments by (obviously) farmers: I have lived on three continents, and many years in Southern Africa. There is one UNIVERSAL similarity: farmers always plead poverty and expect subsidies.

As a South African citizen with a practical interest in the wine producing areas mentioned in this article, I would like to commend the journalist for bringing some of the challenges of the Cape vineyards to global attention. There is an horrific centuries old legacy of slavery, abuse and poverty that bedevils the wine industry. May I suggest your readers do some of their own research on slavery at the Cape and the development of the wine industry to see for themselves?
Many of the present day workers on historical wine farms in the region are descended from bonded people. The rural side walks of scenic winelands roads are trodden by people moving from farm to farm who have no means of transport, many look extremely impoverished - a far cry form the picture apologists in the wine industry try to project.
When next having a luxury vacances in the region (popular with members of government now too) judge for yourself. Better still try and seek out the voices of the workers for yourselves. But these voices are strident and clear - expressed in resistance. Like that of their forefathers, who enslaved, burnt down farms, attacked their masters, absconded, and used every opportunity to escape from the awful tyranny of cape slavery. This is well documented in meticulous records in the Cape archives and court records.But is it part of a painful history that we do not want to remember.
Why would they strike, if they all shared serenely in the utopia that is portrayed in the apologists views for wine workers?
SA wine is (I am ashamed to admit, delicious as it is) tainted with a bitter and violent legacy of cruelty and greed. Human rights have been compromised over industry and the realities are little known. If we censor China for sweat shops why should we overlook the continuing legacy of human-rights infringements on our beautiful wine farms? I would prefer to have a record of good human rights practise rather than a flourishing wine industry on my conscience. After all alcohol is cites as the major contributors to our massively high road death toll and a contributing factor in crime and child neglect in South Africa.

This is a lightweight and shallow analysis of what is a complex issue.
Please do more in-depth research, before you jump to premature conclusions.The SA wine industry is in the early stages of becoming recognised as world class, and once it is respected as such by fickle consumers, with sustainable world demand for its products, wine producers will be able to afford higher wages.
Don't encourage wage driven cost increases at this stage, in a super competitive industry.

Recently returned from some wine tastings in SA. Having a sundowner at what seems to be very great value for money whilst poverty among farm workers persists is very conflicting indeed. The article accurately depicts this, in my view.
But I agree, this scratches the surface at best. I also understood that most wine makers don't make money on wine (indeed major and prestigious estates are often funded from outside business). Also understood that estates have trouble finding qualified (i.e., in some regions, sober) workers, even at above minimum wages. If this is true, what would be the effects of higher (minimum) wages?
First, all SA farms would have a higher cost base. This means that SA farms will find it easier to pass on these costs to consumers, as compared to a situation in which single farms would try to improve conditions for their workforce, failing to pass on the costs in competition with other SA farms. Indeed, to the extent that higher costs could be passed on to consumers, higher wages seem to be desirable (because most SA wine consumers could probably afford it).
However, as has been pointed out, SA farms also compete in the global market. If all SA wines became more expensive they might be substituted through more efficient production in other countries. Less SA volumes could be sold and SA unemployment would even increase.
Hence, there are arguably delicate trade-offs at work. I would wish for more in-depth analysis as how to balance these effects. This seems essential to resolve one of SA's most pressing problems: the transition from low paid and, as is, low productive labour towards desirable work conditions which are competitive at a global level.

This story inaccurately links reports of deplorable conditions in another ag enterprise, with wine farms, which have consistently treated workers well. Although this story touches on wages, it does not delve into total compensation, lodging in private bungalows, meals, utilities, medical, extended families, payroll taxes and pension contributions. South African Wine farm ag workers are already among the highest aggregate compensation brackets in the world. Wages are one portion of their total compensation.

The Solms-Delta story is not a unique example, which should encourage others to support South African Wine Farmers, who struggle to provide an unenviable range of social services to their workers, in the face of rising costs and global competition. Sorry if good and humane people facing massive monthly bills for their staff and extended families doesn't fit the sensationalistic narrative. Generally, South African Wine Farmers are to be commmended, not castigated.

I am referring to Planet Earth in 2013. AGGREGATE compensation includes more than wages, comprising for South African ag laborers, high-quality housing, all utilities and many meals for extended families, medical care, transportation to school, work, to visit relatives up-country, payroll taxes and pension contributions, and more.

The complex truth of global competition against lower wage and compensation exporters like Chile and China, and efficient, mechanized producers like New Zealand and Washington State, gets lost when a few facts are selectively slanted for effect. So does, it seems, the decency and dliigence of South African farmers, providing far better living standards for more workers than any other industry group in that country

Does the journalist have any evidence to support the claim that workers in the Western Cape are the poorest in the country? We do not believe that is true for most workers on wine farms.
South African producers growing wine grapes are working hard to ensure the ethical treatment of workers though programmes such as Fairtrade and WIETA , seee www.wieta.org.za. To date there has been minimal unrest amongst workers on wine farms, and Cosatu is on record as saying that they are not calling for a boycott of wine. Such a boycott will destroy the livelihoods of over a quarter of a million people working in the wine growing regions and wineries.